Issue #219 / Feb 2019

It is getting harder to write this column. I used to have a ready supply of topics, with all the outrageous things that were happening to Linux: Microsoft's disinformation, SCO's lawsuit, patent licenses, the Novell/Microsoft pact – big things that threatened the very existence of the Linux community.

Tails 3.10.1 and Ubuntu MATE 18.10

In the news: Microsoft gets an Open Source Web browser; Canonical launches MicroK8s; A new Raspberry Pi board; OpenStack Foundation changes name of the OpenStack Summit; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 beta; and System76 announces a line of US-made PCs.

This month Zack discusses the KUnit testing framework, removing the Ancient 00-INDEX files, and identifying process termination without polling.

Linux creator Linus Torvalds describes some recent challenges and opportunities for the Linux kernel – and stable branch maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman joins in with thoughts on diversity and competition.

Is the simple black and white GRUB menu causing confusion and obscuring important choices? Why not customize with GRUB themes and the Grub Customizer?

Ubuntu Linux gets back to basics with the Ubuntu 18.10 release – an appealing and practical distro that isn't worried about conquering the world.

EncryptPad provides symmetric text encryption directly from the editor. You can also use EncryptPad to encrypt binary data.

A PCIe SSD can accelerate your system considerably, but you need to do your homework and choose the right product for your computer.

In the Go language, program parts that run simultaneously synchronize and communicate natively via channels. Mike Schilli whips up a parallel web fetcher to demonstrate the concept.